U.S. patent number 8,957,747 [Application Number 13/281,310] was granted by the patent office on 2015-02-17 for multi integrated switching device structures.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Telepath Networks, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is Patrick McGuire, Robert Tarzwell, Kevin Wilson. Invention is credited to Patrick McGuire, Robert Tarzwell, Kevin Wilson.
United States Patent |
8,957,747 |
Wilson , et al. |
February 17, 2015 |
Multi integrated switching device structures
Abstract
A switching device structure having a top layer and a bottom
layer, each layer comprising a body of magnetizable material, such
as permalloy, disposed within a coil wherein an armature is
suspended in a cavity between the top and bottom layers, the
armature having ferromagnetic material disposed on a top and bottom
surface thereof. Each body of magnetizable material may be pulsed
by its respective coil to switch it from a magnetic state to a
non-magnetic state and then subsequently pulsed by the coil to
switch it from the non-magnetic state to a magnetic state.
Inventors: |
Wilson; Kevin (Lake Forest,
CA), Tarzwell; Robert (Freeport, CA), McGuire;
Patrick (Oakland, CA) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Wilson; Kevin
Tarzwell; Robert
McGuire; Patrick |
Lake Forest
Freeport
Oakland |
CA
N/A
CA |
US
CA
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Telepath Networks, Inc.
(Raleigh, NC)
|
Family
ID: |
45994374 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/281,310 |
Filed: |
October 25, 2011 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20120161909 A1 |
Jun 28, 2012 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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61407315 |
Oct 27, 2010 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
335/78;
200/181 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01H
50/005 (20130101); H01H 51/27 (20130101); H01H
50/20 (20130101); H01H 50/60 (20130101); H01H
2050/049 (20130101); H01H 2050/007 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01H
51/22 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;335/78 ;200/181 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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10-2003-0028451 |
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Apr 2003 |
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KR |
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10-2006-0078097 |
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Jul 2006 |
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KR |
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10-2009-0053103 |
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May 2009 |
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KR |
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WO 01/57899 |
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Aug 2001 |
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WO |
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Other References
Telepath Networks, Inc. et al., Form PCT/ISA/210 in connection with
PCT/US2011/057907. cited by applicant .
Telepath Networks, Inc. et al., Form PCT/ISA/237 in connection with
PCT/US2011/057907. cited by applicant .
Form PCT/ISA/210 in connection with PCT/US2010/042789 dated Feb.
25, 2011. cited by applicant .
Form PCT/ISA/237 in connection with PCT/US2010/042789 dated Feb.
25, 2011. cited by applicant.
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Primary Examiner: Rojas; Bernard
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Greenberg Traurig, LLP Ubell;
Franklin D.
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S.
Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/407,315, filed Oct. 27, 2010,
entitled "Multi Integrated Switching Device Structures," the
contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A switching device or relay structure comprising: a top layer
and a bottom layer, each layer comprising a body of magnetizable
material disposed within a coil; and an armature suspended from a
vertical sidewall of a cavity between the top and bottom layers,
the armature comprising a flexible non conductive member, the
flexible non conductive member having ferromagnetic material
disposed on each of a top and bottom surface thereof.
2. The switching device or relay structure of claim 1 wherein each
body of magnetizable material is centrally positioned between
respective ends of said ferromagnetic material.
3. The switching device or relay structure of claim 2 wherein a
said body of magnetizable material is pulsed by its respective coil
to switch it from a magnetic state to a non-magnetic state and is
subsequently pulsed by its respective coil to switch it from a
non-magnetic state to a magnetic state.
4. The switching device or relay structure of claim 1 wherein each
body of magnetizable material comprises a permalloy plug.
5. The switching device or relay structure of claim 2 wherein each
body of magnetizable material comprises a permalloy plug.
6. The switching device or relay structure of claim 3 wherein each
body of magnetizable material comprises a permalloy plug.
7. The switching device or relay structure of claim 1 wherein said
flexible member has respective first and second contacts formed on
an underside of one end thereof.
8. The switching device or relay structure of claim 2 wherein said
flexible member has respective first and second contacts formed on
an underside of one end thereof.
9. The switching device or relay structure of claim 3 wherein said
flexible member has respective first and second contacts formed on
an underside of one end thereof.
10. The switching device or relay structure of claim 9 wherein each
body of magnetizable material comprises a permalloy plug.
Description
FIELD
The subject disclosure relates to switching devices and more
particularly to miniature switching device structures.
RELATED ART
Electromechanical and solid state switches and relays have long
been known in the art. More recently, the art has focused on micro
electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.
SUMMARY
In an illustrative embodiment, a switching device structure
comprises a top layer and a bottom layer, each comprising a
permalloy plug or other magnetizable material disposed within a
coil; and an armature suspended in a cavity between the top and
bottom layers, the armature having ferromagnetic material disposed
on each of a top and bottom surface thereof. Each permalloy plug
may be pulsed by its respective coil to switch it from a magnetic
state to a non-magnetic state and thereafter may be subsequently
pulsed by its respective coil to switch it from a non-magnetic
state to a magnetic state. Such switching of states is used to move
the armature from a "contacts open" to "contacts closed" state and
vice versa and to assist in holding the armature in a selected
state.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an end sectional view of an illustrative device
structure;
FIG. 2 is a top schematic sectional view of the embodiment of FIG.
1;
FIG. 3 illustrates the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 grouped in eight
groups of eight to form an 8-by-8 switch; and
FIG. 4 illustrates the switch of FIG. 3 incorporated into an 8-by-8
module with card edge connector fingers.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS
An end sectional view of a miniature relay structure 11 is shown in
FIG. 1. The relay structure 11 includes top and bottom permanent
magnets 13, 15; top and bottom permalloy plug layers 17, 19; and
oppositely disposed armatures 21, 23. The top and bottom magnets
13, 15, may be, for example, Neodymium magnets formed of Neodymium
alloy Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B, which is nickel plated for corrosion
protection. NdFeB is a "hard" magnetic material, i.e., a permanent
magnet.
The top permalloy plug layer 17 includes vertically disposed
cylindrical permalloy plugs 25, 27, each of which is centrally
disposed within a respective conductive coil 29, 31. Similarly, the
bottom permalloy plug layer 19 includes vertically disposed
permalloy plugs 33, 35. Each permalloy plug is centrally disposed
within a respective conductive coil 37, 39. The bottom permalloy
plug layer 19 also has conductive pads or relay contacts 38, 40
formed thereon. It will be appreciated that the permalloy plugs 25,
27 each comprise a body of material which may be magnetized and
demagnetized and that, while permalloy is disclosed for use in an
illustrative embodiment, other readily magnetizable materials could
be used.
Each armature, e.g. 21, 23 may comprise a generally rectangular
piece of flexible material, such as, for example, fr 4 PCB (printed
circuit board) material, which also may be used to form the top and
bottom layers 17, 19 and an edge layer structure 45, 47. The
respective outer ends, e.g. 41, 43 of the flexible armatures are
sandwiched between laminated layers of the edge layer structure 45,
47 to thereby hinge the respective armatures to the side walls of
the device. Respective relay contacts 46, 48 are formed on the
underside of the respective inner ends 47, 49 of each of the
armatures 21, 23.
As may be better seen in FIG. 2, which illustrates a module 70 of
eight relays, each armature 21, 23 actually has a pair of relay
contacts, e.g., 47, 49, formed on its underside front edge and
disposed above a respective pair of relay contacts 40, 38 formed on
the top surface 51 of the bottom permalloy plug layer 19. Such
contacts may be gold plated copper, or various other conductive
metals or materials, such as, for example, conductive diamond.
Respective conductive metal (e.g. copper) traces are also formed on
the undersurface of each of the armatures 21, 23 and extend across
the undersurface to electrically connect the contacts 40, 38 with
appropriate through-hole vias, e.g., 53. Thus the armatures 21, 23
form part of a double pole (tip and ring), single throw switch.
Each armature 21, 23 further has respective ferromagnetic material
layers, e.g., 55, 57 formed on its top and bottom sides. These
layers 55, 57 are centrally disposed between respective top and
bottom permalloy plugs 25, 33. The ferromagnetic layers 55, 57
render the armatures 21, 23 responsive to magnetic forces. In
various embodiments, the ferromagnetic layers 55,57 could comprise
an iron powder composition such as an iron epoxy or iron polyimide
composition, a solid piece of magnetic material, or other mixture
of ferromagnetic powders with a binding agent.
The vertically running vias 53 supply coil-in and coil-out current
paths for each coil, e.g. 29, 37, 31, 39 and tip and ring current
paths for each armature contact pair and for each base layer
contact pair. Conductor paths to the vias 53 are suitably formed in
the laminated layers of the structure.
In operation, each permalloy plug 25,33 acts like a magnetic
switch. When the permalloy is pulsed with a coil, e.g., 29, 37, it
switches from magnetic to non-magnetic. When pulsed again it
switches back to magnetic. Pulsing the coils 29,37 implements two
functions. First, the magnetic force generated by pulsing attracts
the ferro magnetic coating 55,57 on the armature 21 to the plug 25,
33, whose coil was pulsed. Second, the magnetic force switches the
permalloy "on" thereby adding to the magnetic power of the top or
bottom magnet, thereby forcing the armature 21 to move to the now
magnetized permalloy plug. Once the armature 21 is moved to either
an up or down position through activation of the coils 29, 37, the
top and bottom permanent magnets 13, 15 hold the armature 21 in
that respective position until the coils are oppositely pulsed to
move the armature 21 to the other respective position.
Thus, in one embodiment, to close the relay contacts 48 and 40, the
top coil 29 is pulsed or driven so as to neutralize the force
exerted by the top magnet 13 on the armature 21. At the same time,
the bottom coil 37 is pulsed or driven so as to exert a force which
pulls the armature 21 downwardly until the contacts 48 and 40 are
in a closed position or state. Driving the bottom coil 37 in this
manner also magnetizes the bottom permalloy plug 33 so that it
exerts a holding force in a direction tending to hold the armature
21 in the closed contact position. This holding force adds to the
force of the bottom magnet 15, thus securely holding the contact
40, 48 in the closed state.
To open the relay contacts 48, 40, the bottom coil 37 is pulsed so
as to exert a force opposite to that of the holding force, thus
neutralizing the force of the bottom magnet 15 and urging the
armature 21 upward. This pulsing also demagnetizes the bottom
permalloy plug 33. At the same time, the top coil 29 is pulsed in a
manner which attracts the armature 21 upwardly, with the net result
that the relay contacts 48 and 40 are opened to an "open"
non-conducting state. The top permalloy plug 25 is also magnetized
by this operation such that it thereafter assists the top magnet 13
in holding the contacts 40, 48 in the "open" state. That "open"
state is maintained until the top and bottom coils 29, 37 are
appropriately pulsed so as to again close the contacts 40, 48 in
the manner described in the previous paragraph.
The conductive coils, e.g. 29, 31, may be planar coils such as a
spiral coil formed in a single layer of a plurality of laminated
layers, or may be constructed within a plurality of laminated
layers, each of which contains a horizontal slice of a three
dimensional coil structure and wherein the plurality of layers,
when attached together, form a complete coil, similar to the coil
structure taught in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/838,160,
the subject matter of which is incorporated by this reference in
its entirety herein.
The flexible armature material may have a compliance selected to
reduce rotational torque requirements and may also employ conductor
traces and contact pads scaled down to reduce size.
Illustrative embodiments enable the construction of relatively
large arrays of relays such as the "eight groups of eight"
arrangement 71 illustrated in FIG. 3. Such an array 71 may be
incorporated into a module with card edge conductor connection
fingers, e.g. 73, as shown in FIG. 4, which may then be
conveniently plugged into a standard DIMM (dual in-line memory
module) socket. In one embodiment, such a module could be of a size
on the order of 0.75 inches wide by 4 to 6 inches long. Other array
sizes may be used in alternate embodiments such as, for example,
four rows of sixteen or six rows of eight.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations
and modifications of the just described illustrative embodiments
can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of
the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the
scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other
than as specifically described herein.
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